Tuesday, July 26, 2016

The Silent Mage

Sometimes the simplest, most unassuming quotes have the truest and most latest affect. Or at the very least stick with you. Here is one of the most wise, and a personal favorites (taken from Ursula K. Le Guin's justly famed Earthsea Cycle):  

“To hear, one must be silent.” – Ogion the Silent of Gont, Wizard of Re Albi

Not much is shown of him in the series, but this at least in clear to me. Ogion is and remains one of the wisest Wizards in Fantasy, if for no other reason than his respect for the Balance and that he has clearly heard much that we are deft too.

"When it rained Ogion would not even say the spell that every weather-worker knows, to send the storm aside. In a land where sorcerers come thick, like Gont or the Enlades, you may see a raincloud blundering slowly from side to side and place to place as one spell shunts it on to the next, till at last it is buffeted out over the sea where it can rain in peace. But Ogion let the rain fall where it would." – The Wizard of Earthsea

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Lucina

To all those who have played the 3DS game Fire Emblem Awakening (which, in my not so humble opinion, has a book-worthy storyline):

Apparently the name Lucina comes from an ancient Roman goddess and means "she who brings children into the light". Pretty appropriate, I would say. The game developers certainly did their homework.





For my part, when I think of Fantasy heroes, I put Lucina at the same level as I do Aragorn son of Arathorn.



Friday, July 15, 2016

Archetetypical Heroines

Not bad. But they (Goodreads') missed the female mercenary, the tomboyish warrior princess, and the bookish & unwilling warrior maid.

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Tales of the Bard

"Bard, come forth; face me."

My father and I just finished reading Magician's Law, book #1 of the Tales of the Bard series by that master of myth named Michael Scott.
To read one of Scott's books is like reading stellar myths & legends wrapped in the cloak of deep and thrilling wonder that is the modern Fantasy genre.

An immortal, hook-handed Bard walks the land, championing the Pantheon against darkling and righteous Usurpers from the Gorge. He meets all sorts of strange characters - all totally different, all captivated by him.

Good roads until next summer Paedur the Bard, Kutor, Owen, Tuan, Cliona. Life and Death, Ending and Beginning, are two sides of the same potent coin.

Monday, July 4, 2016

The Rule of Two - one to solve, the other to make

Now, one often hears the term Riddle Master used to describe those who excel in the art of Riddle Games. But I judge the title differently as I have often been called a Riddle Master and yet, paradoxically, am atrocious at answering riddles myself.

Hence I say that there are two kinds of Riddle Masters: the riddle-solver and the riddle-maker. One can be both, of course, but if not, then it is the riddle-makers' task to train the riddle-solvers' in answering, and the riddle-solvers' task to challenge the riddle-makers' in creating.

I, of course, am a riddle-maker, and have trained all those interested in both the skills of answering and and creating - for to be one allows a unique perspective as to the other and, in my experience, riddle-makers are the rarer of the two kinds of Masters.


How might a ferryman leave his boat, yet leave the ferry operating = ?

Here is a hint, written by Neil Gaiman: only tell the ferryman the answer from a safe distance.

Beware another Riddle Master